Indexing device



Jan. 7, 1941. H, DENNER 2,227,443

INDEXING DEVICE Filed Sept. 12, 1939 ALL :n -r-Leys Patented Jan. 7,1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370O. G. 757) The invention described herein may be manufactured and usedby or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the paymentto me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to an indexing device for use in cutting stakingnotches in the noses of projectiles to be armed with point fuses orsimilar elements.

It is an object of this invention to provide a simple and economicalindexing device that may be used to rapidly and accurately position aprojectile disposed for rotation about its 1ongitudinal axis in desiredpositions of rotation corresponding to predetermined positions ofstaking notches to be formed in the nose of the projectile.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects andadvantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferredembodiment as shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

The single figure of the drawing is a side elevation of the indexingdevice of this invention partially in section.

As shown in the drawing the indexing device comprises a base member inadapted to be secured to the bed plate ll of a milling machine forpredetermined limited reciprocal movement thereon in opposite directionsin the plane of a high speed milling cutter l2. Although many expedientsmay be used to reciprocate the base member ll] relative to the cutter l2it has been found convenient to secure a rack [3 to the under side ofthe base in mesh with a pinion Hi rotatably mounted on the bed plate Hand manually operable through the lever l5 and shaft l6.

Adjacent the forward portion of the base In is secured in any suitablemanner an upwardly extending standard [1 provided near its upperterminal with a pivot pin l8 having a beveled guide bearing I9 rotatablymounted thereon to rotate in a plane normal to the plane of rotation ofthe milling cutter l2 and adapted to be inserted in the machined nose ofa projectile. In predetermined spaced relation of standard ITlongitudinally of the base It] a second standard 20 is secured to thebase and adjacent its upper terminal it is bored to provide a bearing 2|in co-axial alignment with the axis of bearing is A stub shaft 22 ismounted in the bearing 2! intermediate its ends for sliding movement andis formed to provide or has secured thereto on its end remote fromstandard I! a flange 23.

Intermediate the portion of the stub shaft projecting from the standard20 opposite flange 23 the shaft is provided with an abutment 24 and athrust bearing 25 is mounted on the stub shaft in engaging relation withthe side of the abutment remote from standard 25]. Freely rotatablymounted on the free end of the stub shaft in engagement with the thrustbearing 25 is a generally circular index member 26 having peripheralindex notches 2'! circumferentially spaced in accordance with the numberand spacing of the staking notches required. As shown at 28 aresiliently loaded detent is adapted to engage in any of the notches 2?to normally restrain the index member against rotation, however, thedetent and notches are so arranged that the restraining action of thedetent may be overcome by the manual application of a small torque onthe index member as is well understood in the art. The front face of theindex member is suitably roughened or provided with an insert indicatedat it having a relatively high coefficient of friction with respect tothe base of a projectile 3H for a purpose hereinafter described and maybe recessed to accommodate the base of the projectile and facilitatealignment thereof on its supports for axial rotation. A compressionspring 3! is sleeved on the stub shaft 22 and interposed between theflange 23 and stand ard 20 under sufiicient initial compression to biasthe stub shaft 22 and index member 28 away from the base of theprojectile 3B interposed between the bearing l9 and index member andwith abutment 24 engaging standard 20.

In spaced relation with standard 28 a support 32 is secured to the baseIt and has pivotally mounted thereon an eccentric 33 disposed to cam thestub shaft and index member 26 toward the standard IT. The eccentric ismanually operable by the lever 34 and is so arranged that in thelowermost position of the lever the thrust on the eccentric surface dueto the spring 3| will be out of line with the eccentric pivot and exerta turning movement on the lever 34 in such direction as to restrain itin its lowermost position in engagement with a suitable stop on thesupport 32 or base 10.

A stationary guide 35 is secured to base HI between the standard I! andindex member 26 adjacent the normal position of the base of theprojectile 3E and is provided with a V-shaped cut-away section 36adapted to engage the base of the projectile on opposed sides in suchmanner as to align the axis of the projectile with the axis of bearingill and stub shaft 22.

As shown in the drawing the standards I1, 20 and guide 35 may bedisposed in inclined parallel relation so as to incline the axis of theprojectile to predetermine the depth of the staking notch 31 cut in thenose 38 of the projectile 30 for a given length of out.

In operation a projectile 30 having passed through the prior necessarymachine operations, which will include machining of the fuse seat in thenose, will be positioned in the index device with its nose bearing inthe rotatable guide l9 and its base resting in the V-cut 36 of thestationary guide 35 whereby its longitudinal axis will be aligned withthe axis of rotation of rotatable guide l9 and stub shaft 22. Theeccentric lever 34 will be depressed bringing the friction surface 29 ofthe index member 26 into frictional engagement with the base of theprojectile 3i] and if detent 28 is not in engagement with a notch 21 ofthe index member the projectile, guide I9 and index will be rotated as aunit until detent 28 engages in a notch 21. The projectile is nowsecured between the guide is and index member 26 for rotation therewithand properly positioned with respect to the cutter I2 to have the firststaking notch cut in its nose. The lever I5 is now depressed to rotatethe pinion l4 and translate base member l through the rack I 3 to aposition where the high speed milling cutter 12 will engage and cut thefirst staking notch 31 in the nose 38 of the projectile 30. After thefirst staking notch is cut the lever I5 is retracted to draw the nose ofthe projectile from withunder the cutter l2 and the projectile ismanually rotated on its axis until the next notch 21 of the index memberis engaged by the detent 28 whereafter the sequence of operations aboveenumerated are repeated until the requisite number of staking notcheshave been cut.

Having now particularly described my invention in its present preferredembodiment, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentis:

1. In an indexing device in combination, a base member, a pair of spacedstandards secured to the base member, a rotatable guide bearing mountedon one of said standards, a rotatable index member mounted on the otherof said standards in 00. axial alignment with said rotatable guidebearing, means for displacing the index member axially toward and awayfrom said rotatable guide bearing and for restraining the index memberin displaced position, and a detent cooperable with said index. memberto normally restrain the index member in one of a plurality ofselectable positions.

2. In an indexing device for use in cutting staking notches in the noseof a projectile in combination, a base member, a pair of spacedstandards secured to the base member a rotatable guide bearing forsupporting the nose of a projectile to be rotated on its longitudinalaxis mounted on one of said standards, a rotatable and shell supportingindex member adapted to support the base of said projectile mounted forco-axial rotation with said rotatable guide bearing on the other of saidstandards, eccentric means for displacing said index member toward therotatable guide bearing to engage the base of a projectile and secure itto said rotatable guide bearing, and a detent cooperable with said indexto normally restrain the index member in one of a plurality of spacedselectable positions.

3. In an indexing device in combination, a standard, a rotatable guidebearing mounted on the standard, a second standard disposed in spacedrelation to the first stanard formed to provide a bearing in axialalignment with the rotatable guide bearing, a stub shaft journaled inthe bearing in the second standard, said shaft being provided with aflange on its end remote from the first standard and with an abutmentadjacent its end remote from the flange, resilient means interposedbetween the flange and second standard biasing the shaft to a positionwith its abutment engaging the second standard, a thrust bearing mountedon the stub shaft in engagement with the abutment, an index memberfreely rotatably mounted on the stub shaft in engagement with the thrustbearing, an eccentric mounted adjacent the flange and having a camsurface engaging the flange so disposed as to displace the shaft andindex member toward the rotatable guide upon movement of the cam surfacerelative to the flange, means for moving the cam surface andautomatically restraining the eccentric in flange displacing position,and means for selectively positioning and restraining the index memberin rotation.

4. The structure of claim 3 wherein a stationary guide is disposedbetween the rotatable guide bearing and index member adjacent the latterfor aligning an element to be secured between the guide and index memberfor rotation.

FRANCIS H. DENNER.

